5 Routines to Establish During A Crazy-Busy Season

It’s kind of an understatement to say that my husband and I have had a busy fall this year. 🙂 As I type this post, he is out doing farm work with his father! If you’ve followed Just Bee for a while, you’ve probably heard that my husband farms and teaches and is an officer in the Army Reserves. And I teach full-time. So we’ve got a lot going on and a lot of different people and things we’ve committed to!

Take this past week, for example: we taught 7:30-3:30 on Thursday and then had conferences until 8 pm, packed for leaving town, taught Friday, left from school to head up to my parents’ because Bjorn had army training. We got home Sunday night, taught Monday 7:30-3:30 and then had conferences until 8 pm, packed that night for leaving town again(!), taught Tuesday, then left from school to head up to my family’s Thanksgiving celebration!

During harvest season, Bjorn typically heads straight to the fields after school and farms until it is nearly bedtime! I have grown accustomed to a lot of time alone and have learned how to stay positive and productive when he’s gone so much.

This crazy busyness is paired with the fact that I have a passionate heart for the home! I relish caring for our place. I believe that there really are good reasons for keeping a clean home. I’m a real homebody and I truly do enjoy cooking and organizing – things that many would consider an eye-roll or just plain boring! 🙂

I believe we can glorify God in any aspect and any season of our life, even during the really busy times! But part of that comes from maintaining some semblance of routine and balance in our daily lives, including caring for our home (and our pets) out of respect for our Provider! Here are some habits we’ve discovered can keep us feeling more “with it” and on top of things during a busy week.

Routines to Establish During a Crazy Busy Week (or Season):

1 // Do dishes and laundry (and general straightening up) whenever you can. Even if you feel you can’t set aside a chunk of time to clean, there are often 10- or 15-minute periods when you could accomplish a few smaller tasks. This keeps things like laundry and dishes from (literally) piling up over time!

If you haven’t already, you can download my free 20-Minute Housecleaning Checklist here, too! I’ve got a copy of this on my own fridge and it comes in handy when I don’t have much time to straighten things up and need to prioritize!

2 // Set a check-in time with your spouse or family. For some households, this means a sit-down supper together to talk about everyone’s day. For us, it’s either right before we head to bed or (on non-farming days) when we chat or make supper together after work. Working a check-in time into even the busiest of weeks reminds us of the things (the relationships) that are most important in life!

3// Have a wind-down routine. This one is really important to me! 🙂 Either right after work or before you turn in for the night, establish little patterns with yourself that tell your body, “There. You can relax now!” Many people relish routines, and I’m a huge believer in meaningful, small joys. Whether it’s changing into “comfy clothes” (a habit I’ve maintained since college!), making yourself a mug of hot tea, or simply turning on soothing music, there often is time to do something small but comforting during a busy week! Routines bring people a lot of comfort – it’s worth it to make a bit of room in your schedule for those little things!

4 // Pray! It’s ironic that during crazy seasons we often tell ourselves that we are too busy to have a longer prayer time or Scripture reading time. We NEED Him! We need to connect with our Creator and thank Him and worship Him! Lean on God, in busy times and in drier times. I had a mentor of a sort who told me when she journaled and prayed in the mornings before work, she could definitely tell it made a difference in her approach to that day. And she said she could really tell on the days when she hadn’t made the time to pray and journal! It’s worth it!

5 // Map out the week. This also might seem unnecessary to some people, since it does take time to sketch out the week’s commitments and to-do lists in a planner, because all the craziness will hit anyway… 🙂 But in my opinion, it’s best to anticipate what’s coming up next so you don’t drop the ball!

How do you approach those crazy-busy times? What routines have you found make the most difference for you and your family?